GOD'S RAINBOW COVENANT

The rainbow, beautiful wonder of earthly nature.

As far as is known to date, this glorious marvel, transparent, shining, ephemerous, of elegant configuration and perfectly combined colors, does not exist on the planet Mars, nor on any other planet of the solar system, nor on any other body in space of the material universe. Rather, only on planet Earth.

Esteemed reader, do you fully appreciate its loveliness and other special qualities?

The rainbow is a “series of concentric colored arcs that may be seen when light from a distant source—most commonly the Sun—falls upon a collection of water drops—as in rain, spray, or fog. The rainbow is observed in the direction opposite to the Sun. The colored rays of the rainbow are caused by the refraction and internal reflection of light rays that enter the raindrop, each color being bent through a slightly different angle. Hence, the composite colors of the incident light will be separated upon emerging from the drop. The most brilliant and most common rainbow is the so-called primary bow, which results from light that emerges from the drop after one internal reflection.” https://www.britannica.com/science/rainbow-atmospheric-phenomenon

In the “garden” that the “Jehovah God planted… eastward, in Eden,” never did any rainbow appear in the skies. “…for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth… but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” Genesis 2:4-8. Most versions read “mist.” Some translate “stream,” “streams,” or “wáter.”

It is, then, a matter of fact that neither Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Enoch, nor Methuselah, nor any other human being that inhabited planet Earth during the Antediluvian Age, ever saw a rainbow.

The first human beings who saw a rainbow were Noah, his wife, his three daughters, and his three sons-in-law. These eight were the only survivors of the Great Flood. 1 Peter 3:18-21. God said to them:

9 “‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ 12 God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ 17 God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’” Genesis 9:9-17

That “covenant” of God says:

“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22

So, beloved reader, the rainbow is, effectively a new creation that appears long centuries after the six days of creation registered in Genesis 1 and 2.

A new creation of the Lord God himself. “My bow,” he says once and again. He is, then, very definitely the God of the RAINBOW!

He is its Creator. To this day, millenniums after he first made it appear, he can see it wherever and as many times as it forms all over planet Earth. “When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it…”

The Creator of the rainbow explains that the rainbow is a “sign… in the clouds.” A sign of what? He tells us that it is a sign of his “covenant” he makes with all humanity after the Great Flood, together with “every living creature of all flesh,” even with planet Earth itself.

“…with you and your descendants after you.” A “…covenant between me and the earth.” What covenant?

“…that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” Genesis 9:15

Of course, this does not mean there will never be torrential rains and severe flooding in some places around the earthly globe. Thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornados, and tsunamis. It does mean that there will never again occur a global flood such as the one in the time of Noah and his family.

The “covenant” that the Lord God makes with us also includes the solemn divine promise that seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease “as long as the earth endures.”

This tremendous “covenant” between the Creator and his earthly creation assures a high degree of climatological stability, and, thereby, a supply. reasonably certain, of food, not only for human beings but also for all other living creatures on the planet.

And with rare exceptions for limited times, this “covenant” is, globally, without respect to persons! It is due to this impartial treatment of humanity as a whole that the “Father in heaven… makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:45

Have you thought long and soberly about all that? Are you fully conscious of it? Or do you perhaps receive so many blessings without a thought about their origin, as if

they were your innate, unquestionable, unconditional right? The reality being that you do not inherently have such a right. Respectfully, I would beseech you not to allow yourself to be deceived by your presumed “right.” Nor by the continuation, in general, of climatological stability and a sufficient supply of food.

Assuredly, the rainbow “covenant” God makes with us human beings is that our natural surroundings and conditions will continue more or less normal “as long as the earth endures.” The crucial detail we should not overlook is that this very phrase “as long as the earth endures” implies, unmistakably, that this our “blue planet” will not endure forever. That its existence will end.

Not, to be sure, as a result of some future global flood, but, nevertheless, a definitive cessation of existence. How? That is revealed in great detail, long centuries after the day that rainbow “covenant” was made with Noah and all his descendants to come, by means of abundant revelations set forth in the “new covenant” of Jesus Christ, as in the visions of Revelation and very clear statements in 2 Peter 3:1-18, 2 Corinthians 4:18, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 5:1-7, plus other texts.

Nor does the phrase “for all future generations” (Genesis 9:12) contravene this projection of the future termination of planet Earth so forcefully set forth in the “new covenant” of Christ. Some versions of the verse read “perpetual generations,” “everlasting generations,” or “perpetual ages.” The rainbow covenant is called “the everlasting covenant” in Genesis 9:15. None of these phrases nullifies the New Covenant teaching on the definitive future destruction of planet Earth, the entire material universe, and time itself. Revelation 10:5-7; 11:15-19; 20:11; 21:1

In biblical language, “perpetual” and “everlasting” do not always mean “eternally, time without end.” The context of these words determines their exact meaning, which can include “until the time determined.”

For example, let us consider the clause: “a perpetual ordinance to be observed throughout their generations by the Israelites.” Exodus 27:20-21. Reference is to God’s directives for the lamps that were to illuminate the tabernacle and, later, the temple. “…perpetual ordinance” being qualified by the clause “throughout their generations by the Israelites.” And the duration of this parameter was set by the fact that the generations of the Israelites as the earthly elect people of God came to an end when Jesus Christ was crucified and his “new covenant” with a different, purely spiritual people went into effect on Pentecost, ten days after his Ascension. So then, “…perpetual” lasted only that long, and not for all eternity, time without end. Hebrews 9:1-11; 7:12; 8:8-13; 2 Corinthians 3:6-17; Galatians 3:23-29, and many similar texts.

Secular dictionaries also recognize the limited use of “perpetual” in some contexts. “…holding something (such as an office) for life or for an unlimited time; occurring continually: indefinitely long-continued.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perpetual. “Everlasting: continuing for a long time or indefinitely.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/everlasting. The “indefinite” of these definitions is made “definite” in Bible usage by qualifying clauses such as “throughout their generations.”

Respected reader, the relative NORMALITY of our present-day physical-material surroundings in the 21st century produces, precisely, a circumstance that contributes strongly to the development of the great self-deception that afflicts scoffers of today who “deliberately ignore” the true origin of planet Earth, the occurrence of the Great Flood, and the significance of the

rainbow“covenant” God made with all material-physical creation. Ridiculing the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and Bible prophecies on the end of the world, they say, effectively, just what their coreligionists of the 1st century said:

“Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!” 2 Pedro 3:4. Most of them omitting the clause “from the beginning of creation,” for they do not believe in such a creation, if they have ever even thought of it, absorbed as they are so much in the fantasy-fiction worlds of digital creation.

For them, and for all of us, I would like to strongly emphasize the element of NORMALITY highlighted in the expression “all things continue as they were from the beginning.” That is exactly the perception many people of the past had, and multitudes of the present have, of “all things” around them, of all categories and dimensions.

This very same NORMALITY is programmed to continue to the last day of time, to the Second Coming of Christ, to the world-shaking events that will put a sudden, splitting end to it. A truth that frustrates present-day false prophets and sensationalist pastors who see in every earthquake, pandemic, hurricane, severe flooding, mass shooting, social-moral upheaval, or war, a “sure sign of the imminent Second Coming of Christ for such and such a specific date.” Examples: 1988 (Edgar Whisemant, Pat Robertson and many more), 21 May 2011 (by Harold Camping), 21 December 2012 (Mesoamerican Long count calendar), and 2020 (Jeane Dixon). Their “signs and dates” always dissolving into embarrassing failures because no human being can set a specific date for that event, not even the angels or Christ himself knowing it. Matthew 24:36. Their rashness and foolish errors disorient and spiritually weaken vast numbers of people, leading especially the sensual, materialistic, secular irreligious to misinterpret the NORMALITY they perceive about them.

“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:38-39.

So, then…

NORMALITY before the Great Flood.

And NORMALITY before “the coming of the Son of Man.”

Dear friend, do you see that clearly? If you do, then please do not allow yourself to be deceived by the present NORMALITY, more or less, of “all things” around us.

Now when the Lord God Creator sees, from his celestial throne, a rainbow on the earth, he not only appreciates its exquisite beauty but also sees a “sign,” the “sign” of his global “covenant,” yes, and of his very personal “covenant” with you and with me.

When you see a rainbow, what do you see? What do you exclaim? What do you think? Is the rainbow for you no more than a lovely curiosity? Do you not see it as one of the fantastic creations that evidence the existence of an incredibly powerful Intelligence capable

not only of conceiving but also of making a reality a glorious phenomenon of such imposing dimensions and pleasing colors? Repeatedly and magically appearing all around the earthly globe, day after day, year after year, century after century, millennium after millennium, wherever and whenever the necessary climatological and atmospheric conditions make possible its sudden creation, delighting the eyes and heart of the intelligent, sensitive observer.

Surely, phenomena of this kind merit being taken as strong evidence to believe that a wonderfully powerful Super Intelligent Creator exists. Romans 1:18-20; Psalm 19

Did your parents never teach you the origin and meaning of the rainbow? Is it possible they themselves did not have that information? Since you have arrived at this point in this study, you are equipped, it is to be supposed, to instruct your own loved ones on this precious, pleasing, edifying, valuable subject.

Changing focus now, I personally feel duty bound to observe that the alphabet community (LGBTQ and about seventy additional combinations of letters), upon taking the rainbow as a symbol of their movement, have acted in a very audacious and risky fashion, for the rainbow is God’s own symbol, and, through his authentic prophets and apostles, he has

openly declared himself against unnatural conducts and relationships between human beings. “…degrading passions” and “unnatural intercourse,” as he says. Romans 1:26-27

Overruled the arguments of not a few members of the movement to the effect that God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ approve, at least tacitly, of the inclusion in their Holy, Pure, Spiritual Kingdom of people who profess to believe in them, but that preach and practice the “unnatural.” The declarations and applications of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son in the “new covenant” Bible texts of Romans 1:18-32 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 prove that this is not so.

It would not surprise me at all that the great majority of the many millions that make up that worldwide alphabet community would be totally ignorant of the origin of the rainbow, its meaning as a sign of the covenant God has made with all of humanity, its importance across the ages, and its manifestations in the Creator’s celestial dwelling places. Because, generally speaking, they are not a people of God, nor of the Bible, nor less still of the church Christ built.

So important is the rainbow for God that its celestial counterpart is reflected in the splendor around him, according to the vision of the prophet Ezequiel in the 6th century before Christ.

“Like the bow in a cloud on a rainy day, such was the appearance of the splendor all round. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” Ezequiel 1:28

Its importance for God is highlighted again in the vision of the celestial throne that the apostle John received in 95 CE (Common Era, or Christian Age).

“And the one seated there looks like jasper and cornelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald.” Revelation 4:3

And again, in the vision of the “mighty angel.”

“And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud,

with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.” Revelation 10:1

How important is the rainbow for you? For me? Will we have the immense blessing of seeing the one over the throne God occupies in Heaven?

Only the person who believes in God and Christ, repents of his sins, publicly confesses faith in both, and is immersed (baptized) in water “for the forgiveness of sins,” persevering in holiness to the end of his days on earth, will enjoy such a glorious blessing, together with all other stupendous blessings reserved in Heaven for those who obey Christ’s “gospel of salvation” in his “new covenant.”

Relevant Bible texts. Mark 16:15-16; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:36-47; 8:26-40; Romans 6:3-7; Revelation 2:10, plus chapters the complete chapters 21 y 22; Hebrews 12:22-23, and many more of the same category.

Written with a sincere love for each and every soul-spirit alive on planet Earth. Dewayne. hshappley@yahoo.com

Text and Document Composition by the author Homer Dewayne Shappley. All rights reserved. The only restrictions on the use of this document are the sale of it in any format and proper identification of its origin.

Category. Light for the Mind and Spirit.

Category. Additional prophecies

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GOD'S RAINBOW COVENANT